"Yougottadance. Aslongasthemusicplays. Yougottadance."Yes, the Sheep Man is back, and so is Murakami's first (anti) hero. Technically speaking, 'Dance, Dance, Dance' is not part of 'The Trilogy of the Rat'; realistically, however, to get the most out of this novel, it helps to have read the trilogy first. In these three books (the two novellas 'Hear the Wind Sing' and 'Pinball, 1973', plus Murakami's first full-length novel, 'A Wild Sheep Chase'), we learn about our nameless hero (let's call him Toru...) and meet some of the characters discussed in 'Dance, Dance, Dance' - including the enigmatic Sheep Man...
The story takes up events four-and-a-half years on from the end of 'A Wild Sheep Chase'. After a six-month mourning period, 'Toru' has tried to slip back into his monotonous daily life, writing excellent, but ultimately pointless, restaurant reviews for women's magazines and generally coasting through life without casting a shadow. Of course, this can only go on for so long, and, with cries from a lost friend echoing through his head, he decides to return to the eerie Dolphin Hotel in Sapporo. And that's where the adventures begin...
Toru's new quest takes him on a ride through a world which seems to have changed immensely in a few short years. His noble, Don Quixote-like, struggle against big business and faceless power is in the past: capitalism has arrived and conquered. Now is the time of mass consumption, and with a backdrop of Boy George and Talking Heads, where everything can be bought on expense accounts (even call girls...), Toru is forced to adapt to this new, unpalatable reality.
A symbol of this new world is Toru's old school friend, Gotanda, a successful television and film star who has made a career out of projecting an aura of honesty and proficiency. Gotanda becomes a part of Toru's search for his former girlfriend, the woman with the most beautiful ears in the world (I told you you need to read the other books first...) when Toru sees him on the screen in a scene with this woman, but the film star also becomes a friend. Unable to break out of the shallow world of showbiz, Gotanda is drawn to Toru's simplicity and down-to-earth attitude towards life. Unfortunately, this may not be enough to save Gotanda from his demons...
Gotanda is the key to this novel as he is inextricably caught up in the horrors of the modern consumer society. Fleeced by his ex-wife (whom he still loves) in a cynically orchestrated divorce, he is massively in debt to the studios who employ him, forcing him to carry on working in an industry he has come to despise. Despite these debts, however, he is able to (and, in fact, is urged to) live life to the fullest on his tax-deductible expense account. Murakami skilfully sketches the paradox of a man who is showered with Italian sports cars and free visits to the best restaurants and night clubs in Tokyo but is unable to step back and take a break from his life. The contrast with Toru is obvious.
Of course, the focus of the novel is still on Toru, who, having lost his friend, his wife, his girlfriend and his past, is wading through a miserable time in his life, trying to break through to 'normality'. A chance encounter with a young girl, Yuki, who somehow becomes his responsibility, is one of the factors which moves him along on his path, perhaps compelling him to snap out of his low and finally achieve real adulthood. Yuki's function in the novel is similar to that of May Kasahara in 'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle', allowing Toru to see himself as other 'normal' people see him - a person detached from society. Having said that, Yuki is far from normal herself...
When you look past all the supernatural imagery and metaphor, the four novels represent a young man's struggle to mature and settle down. Toru, 34 years old in this instalment is finally able to tie up loose ends, sow a few wild oats and put the past behind him (Gotanda, on the other hand, is not). The university student of 'Hear the Wind Sing' has become - or, at least, will become - a (reluctant) member of society, if not a staunch believer in mass consumption. And so we bid farewell to our nameless friend (Toru was always my invention)... but is he so nameless? The dates and ages given in the four books always match up, allowing us to calculate his year of birth as 1949. So? Well, a certain Japanese author you might know also happened to be born in that year...
It's always with a feeling of regret that a reader says goodbye to a character they have spent so much time with. Whether it's Harry Potter and co., the inhabitants of Barsetshire or the vast cast of 'A Suitable Boy', the last page of a series, or a long novel, leaves you feeling a little sad and empty. Such is my feeling now. Until next time.
